Browsing by Author "Singh, Pratap"

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Patterns in avian assemblages on two islands of the Central Nicobar with emphasis on interactions between the endemic Nicobar Bulbul and Red-whiskered bulbul
(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2017) Goyal, Naman; Nair, Manoj V.; Singh, Pratap; Sivakumar, K.
Bird Communities were studied on two islands of the central Nicobar, namely Teressa (Large) and Bompuka (Small) between 16th December 2016 and 15thApril 2017. • This study aimed to understand the patterns in avian assemblages on these islandsand further understand the nature of interaction between Red-whiskered Bulbul and the Nicobar Bulbul • 4 major habitats were identified viz Primary forest, Secondary forest, Plantations, and Grassland based on an exhaustive reconnaissance survey • In total 110 point counts were conducted within these habitats on both the islands • 56 bird species belonging to 30 families were recorded during the study. Teressa had higher species richness than Bompuka • Bird assemblage on Bompuka was a complete subset of Teressa and nested ness was found to be significant (p
Study of altitudinal and geographical song variation and interspecific interaction among Phylloscopus warblers in the Himalayas.
(2014) Singh, Pratap; Rawat, G.S.
Sound is predominant mode of communication among birds and has advantages over visual communication, particularly where habitats are dense. Bird vocalizations are usually categorized into calls and songs. The study is based on geographical song variation in two leaf warblers i.e. Grey-hooded Warbler, Phylloscopus xanthoschistos and Blyth’s Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus v reguloides. These species occur in the Himalayas and North-east Hill States of India. P. xanthoschistos has four subspecies breeding in India whereas P. reguloides has two to three subspecies based on different classifications. The objectives of my study were: 1. 2. To study altitudinal and geographical variations in songs of Phylloscopus xanthoschistos and Phylloscopus reguloides along the Himalayas. To examine the role of interspecific aggression in habitat selection among four closely related Phylloscopus warblers along altitudinal gradients using song playbacks. The study carried out fieldwork at 15 sites across Himalayas (including two localities in the Northeast state of Meghalaya) covering all subspecies of the two species. The fieldwork included recording of songs of P. xanthoschistos and P. reguloides and to carry out playback experiments, both intraspecific and interspecific. Intraspecific experiments were carried out to know the significance of geographical song variation, and the interspecific experiments for finding out interspecific aggression among closely related Phylloscopus species. As far as possible different recordings were used for experiment and control playbacks to avoid pseudoreplication..
Study of Some Important Aspects of Breeding Ecology and Vocalization of Jungle Prinia in Siswan Community Reserve Punjab India
(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Chandra, Vignesh M.; Mohan, D.; Singh, Pratap
Several groups of songbirds including North-American wood warblers belonging to the genus Vermivora, Parula, Dendroica, and Setophaga have developed two singing modes or categories of songs which are having different functions. Among Indian breeding birds Jungle Prinia along with three Phylloscopus warblers (humei, pulcher, and chloronotus) are known to have two singing modes. To find out function of two singing modes by the bird during different stages of breeding in Jungle Prinia, I studied the use of two singing modes of Jungle Prinia and its relation with its habitat or vegetation. My study suggests that the singing mode A is related to aggressive mal-male interactions and singing mode B is linger distance signal and has role in male and female interactions. Bird density was found to be positively related to the differential singing mode B use.
Winter Ecology of Three Species of Phylloscopus Warblers
(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2007) Ghosh, Mousumi; Singh, Pratap; Mohan, D.
This study focused on three species of Phylloscopus warblers, P. humei, P. xanthoschistos, and P. chloronofus which overwinter sympatrically in the foothills of western Himalayas. The patterns of habitat occupancy, foraging behaviour, and foraging microhabitat of three species of warblers were examined to determine the nature of ecological complementarity facilitating their co-existence in the non-breeding season. Moreover, investigating the morphology-ecology associations among congeners also becomes critical since recent divergence may hinder our understanding of the mechanisms of their ecological segregation, as is the case with these species. Hence, morphology-ecology associations were also examined. A total of 91 points were sampled for bird detections five times each between December 2006 and March 2007. Prey abundances across habitat types were quantified. Behavioural data was also collected. The three species were found to differ in the occupancy of the sampled area. However, the bird occupancy did not correlate with differences in prey abundances across habitat types. The warbler species showed clear segregation in the use of foraging behaviour, foraging microhabitat, and proportion of large prey intake. The movement pattern was also found to vary across the three species. Morphology-ecology associations revealed the close interaction of morphology and ecology in shaping the ecological segregation of the three species in the non-breeding season. One major finding was that P. xanthoschistos is able to meet its demand for large arthropods in this northern site (31.5 % large prey intake) previously believed to be low in large arthropod abundance. Finally, the study demonstrated that the ecology of P. xanthoschistos (previously Seicercus) is very similar to other members of the genus Phylloscopus.